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Table Tennis BlogFri, 06 Jan 2017 06:03:25 +0000http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5enhourly1Trying out the TT-Flexhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TableTennisDatabaseBlog/~3/IrNoUmU0aAc/
http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/trying-out-the-tt-flex/#commentsFri, 06 Jan 2017 05:52:18 +0000Arthur Luihttp://tabletennisdb.com/blog/?p=487At the US Open this year, I bumped into Samson Dubina and he gave me a prototype of his new TT-Flex training system to try out. Here are my impressions.

The Racket

The racket feels rather heavy, since it’s stainless steel, 3mm thick. It’s got a nice wooden handle but it’s a bit top-heavy since the wood in the handle isn’t as dense as the steel throughout the head. The head of my blade has some markings, but that’s because it’s a prototype.

Usage

I tried doing my backhand loop swings at full speed (without a band attached), and I could definitely feel it in my wrist. It can definitely give your muscles a workout. You probably don’t want to start out swinging at full power. I’d recommend easing into it over a few sessions to let your muscles adjust.

When I tried attaching the band, I found that it felt best to do slower swings in one direction so the resistance is uniform. So I did have to adjust my stroke a bit, but as far as developing strength in the muscles used, it should do the job even when an adjusted stroke.

Hook Positions

I actually had trouble finding places to hook the bands. The instructions say that the object you’re hooking to should be able to support 100 lbs of pressure. In my apartment, I don’t have many places to hook it. For the three positions to attach to (floor, table, and ceiling), I only had the floor height covered, on one of the legs of my heavy TV table. In Samson’s YouTube video, he gets the “table” height on his playing table, but I’m not sure what he hooks for the ceiling height. The ceiling may not be as necessary anyways, as I think it’s only used for downward chopping, which most players don’t do.

Conclusion

I can see this being useful for strength building, especially in the wrists which get neglected since normal gym routines ignore them. Ease into your use of the racket and the bands so you don’t strain any muscles which aren’t used to handling a heavier racket or the resistance of the bands. Good luck!

I was playing a match against a higher rated player, the top on the opposing team. This is a “teams tournament” where you send out three players to play each of the opposing team’s three players, making nine individual match-ups. Your team wins by earning five wins out of the possible nine individual matches.

My teammates had already played this player so I got to see him in action before facing him myself. He had some amazing strokes. A powerful forehand loop. Textbook technique. Highlight reel stuff. He is clearly well-trained. I had already lost to his two lower-rated teammates and, seeing his amazing play so far, I assumed I’d lose again.

I’m thinking: Alright Arthur, just play your best, you’re going to lose, but just do your best anyways. Losing is a part of competing.

Surprisingly, the match started out in my favour. I already saw the serves he was using on my teammates, and I simply returned them rather defensively, returning his short, no-spin serves with a light touch back over the net. He’d often tap them back lightly, and this would go on for a few hits until he popped one a little high or a little deep, and I’d put a decent topspin on it, and might win the point a few hits later. Sometimes I’d get an outright smash opportunity. I was now winning 8-5. He hadn’t put out a single powerful attack that I had seen him give against my teammates.

Why isn’t he attacking? He must be giving me a few pity points. To avoid embarrassing me 11-2, he’s giving me a few points up front, then he’ll turn on the jets and destroy me.

A few points later, and I’ve won the first game. At this point I’m actually annoyed.

I’m thinking: You’re actually going to give me an entire game out of pity? Not cool, man. Just play your game and beat me.

I actually considered saying something to him about this but decided against it.

The match continued and was relatively close, and I ended up taking the match 3 games to 2. That’s when I realized, he was never giving me pity points. I just had the right strategy! That was my “aha” moment.

The right strategy is so powerful that you may really believe your opponent is giving you points for free!

This wasn’t the first time I thought I was receiving pity points. I thought back to a tournament I had played the previous year in Toronto. I played someone who had just dominated a much better player than myself, and assumed I’d face a similar fate. And throughout the match, as I was winning, I kept thinking that she was giving me free points. And then I won.

This just reinforces something I always knew deep down, that the match-up of individual strengths and weaknesses matters a lot more on the score sheet than someone’s overall rating. Nobody’s game is so well-rounded that they can handle all situations well. Some players have amazing forehand strokes but weak backhand strokes, and opponents can capitalize on that by playing to the backhand. Some players are great when they stand back and engage in looping battles but weaker with close-to-the-table play. Your decisions on what serves to use and what strategies to employ dictate the direction of the match.

This opponent great with mid-distance attacks. He can destroy deep balls. But in our match he rarely got to use those impressive power strokes. I returned his serves short, low, with little spin, and the point rarely went in the direction of his strengths.

The interesting thing is that his choice of serves enabled me to avoid his strength. He was serving short, low, and without that much spin. That let me return it short, low, and without much spin. Had he served long and with heavy spin, I would have had to return it long as well, and this would have started a series of those offensive rallies that he excels at.

This just highlights the importance of a good coach or playing partner that can identify these strengths and weaknesses during your tournament play. While you’re wrapped up in the stress of competitive play, they can observe your opponents and see how to best move the game towards your strengths.

Sir Ping Pong

]]>http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/sir-ping-pong-t-shirt/feed/0http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/sir-ping-pong-t-shirt/Designer Paddles from Uberponghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TableTennisDatabaseBlog/~3/0DdO-K5TVp4/
http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/designer-paddles-from-uberpong/#commentsMon, 07 Apr 2014 02:05:55 +0000Arthur Luihttp://www.tabletennisdb.com/blog/?p=446I decided to check out some swanky designer paddles from Uberpong, a custom blade company based out of Austin, Texas. They’ve got some really solid designers behind these creations.

I got the Ice Cream Nation and Kawaii paddles. These are going to look great in my condo. My thoughts are beneath the photos. Click for hi-res.

Visuals

The designs are beautiful; I had a hard time picking out two. They’ve got an array of designers from around the world. The colours on the paddle are a little less vibrant than the images on the website, but they look solid with crisp lines. They print surprisingly well on pips. The blade is a nice light wood, with a smooth finish.

Performance

The paddles are short pips with very light grip. If you’re a competitive player, it takes some adjusting. Speed-wise it’s also on the slower end. So if you want to play with them, they could be suitable for recreational play, though you’ll have to put a little more wind-up into your swing to get some juice out of them on your smashes. They’re probably ideal for rec players.

Custom Designs

The paddles I got were from their designer line, but they also do custom ones. It’s pretty cool that they can take it directly from your Facebook or Instagram accounts, or you can just upload them directly. These would be fun pieces to take along with you to any of the SPiN Galactic bars!

]]>http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/designer-paddles-from-uberpong/feed/0http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/designer-paddles-from-uberpong/Custom-printed Sandpaper Paddles from PaddleYouhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TableTennisDatabaseBlog/~3/Zdi0Is-HAtk/
http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/custom-printed-sandpaper-paddles-from-paddleyou/#commentsSun, 19 Jan 2014 04:30:50 +0000Arthur Luihttp://www.tabletennisdb.com/blog/?p=437I recently picked up two custom paddles from PaddleYou, based in New York. It’s a pretty interesting concept, print your own designs on a sandpaper paddle! I’m not personally a sandpaper player, so these are artwork to me. I picked some interesting photos, have a look! These will make nice decorations for my apartment, and maybe I’ll give them a spin some time. Click for hi-res.

The prints came out pretty well, given that it’s sandpaper. It won’t be quite as vibrant as the photo, but that’s the limitations of the medium. The handle is pretty comfy as well, pre-sanded for right-handers. I do like the black handles, pretty chic!

Seeing as the purpose of the Table Tennis Database is to give people an understanding of the equipment they might buy, I thought I’d share some personal tips on how to write reviews that will be helpful to all readers. Hopefully this will be a useful guide to increase the quality of the reviews. Okay, let’s go!

Describe characteristics specifically

Instead of using general terms like “good” or “bad”, try describing the specific aspects of performance. “The rubber was highly tacky.” Because general terms don’t give a lot of insight to the reader. What feels “good” to you, may not be the same for others.

Mention your playing style

The dominant style for people using smooth rubbers is a topspin looping style. If you were you using this rubber for a different style like flat hitting, then it’s helpful to mention this fact? Do you play as a defensive chopper? Mentioning how you used a rubber is important, because a reader may be looking to use it for a different playing style.

“Bad fit” is not the same as just “bad.”

Sometimes I see negative reviews where the player’s performance was worsened by this new rubber or blade. However, I think this can be unfair. A player’s performance is heavily affected by the right “fit.” If you’re used to attacking with loop drives which fit your current rubber and blade, and then switch to a new setup (like a blade that is too stiff or too flexible), you need to adjust all your angles to make it work. It takes some time to adjust your strokes to the new equipment.

And in the end, the new setup may not be for you. It doesn’t mean that it’s a bad blade deserving a bad review, it’s just a bad fit for you. You need to figure out which characteristics are a fit for your strokes, and find the right setup for it. Know thyself.

I’ve always struggled with the “overall” rating that is put on a product. Restaurant review sites use a star system for the overall experience, Amazon has a similar system for books, and we have the overall rating out of 10. How relevant and useful is this rating though?

Maintaining the accuracy and fairness of the ratings in the system is part of our mission, and we’re committed to upholding that. The recent rating quality update received a lot of criticism surrounding the erasing of “overall” ratings below 5/10, and it was justified criticism.

As I ponder the best way to maintain fair ratings, I keep wondering about the usefulness of this overall rating. Here are my thoughts so far, and I’d like your feedback on this.

1. “Overall” is different for everyone.

I see a lot of reviews where a rubber didn’t live up to the player’s expectations of it. Maybe the throw angle was too low, the sponge too hard, or loops just didn’t seem to work well. But for every dissatisfied reviewer that gave it a 4/10, there were several more players who loved it. So if we all have different playing styles that fit different types of equipment, what truly deserves a bad overall rating?

2. Universally bad characteristics.

Personally, I’d only rate a product low if it had characteristics that are bad for any player (for example: quality issues).

Always bad

Does the rubber wear out quickly?

Does the topsheet peel off the sponge from regular play?

Did the shoes fall apart after a month?

Do balls jam in the robot frequently?

Not always bad

The rubber is too tacky for me (some people were meant for non-tacky rubbers)

The blade is too hard (it doesn’t fit your style)

My loops aren’t landing on the table (this one’s really vague, and may mean that the setup isn’t a good fit for your strokes, or a change in technique is required to use it effectively)

Certain characteristics are universally bad, and I believe only those should negatively impact a product’s rating.

3. Don’t rely too heavily on the overall rating.

How well it fits the style of the “majority” of its users (popularity)

Quality control issues

Note that “how good a racket is” isn’t part of this list. Because you can’t simplify a rubber to one score. You can rate its popularity or specific physical properties, but there’s no way to generalize that to “good” or “bad”.

In most cases, it’s #1 that is more heavily impacting this rating, not quality issues, and this makes it problematic for anyone relying heavily on the overall rating to get insight on the product.

Conclusion

So is the overall rating useless? Not quite, but its usefulness is limited.

If you’re looking for the next blade to buy, don’t just look at what gets a 9.5/10. Look for the specific characteristics you need (level of tackiness, speed, sponge hardness) and that will give you the best chance of finding your perfect setup. There’s no silver bullet that works for everyone.

Remember, equipment doesn’t magically make you play well. You need to find what fits you. It will take some trial and error, but get some advice from your peers (and especially a knowledgeable coach if you have one).

Should “Overall” rating be removed?

]]>http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/overall-rating-useless/feed/2http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/overall-rating-useless/Rating Quality Updateshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TableTennisDatabaseBlog/~3/GabqOktVkGI/
http://tabletennisdb.com/blog/rating-quality-updates/#commentsMon, 09 Dec 2013 03:42:48 +0000Arthur Luihttp://www.tabletennisdb.com/blog/?p=388UPDATE: Changes #1 and #2 have been rolled back. After hearing reasonable feedback from concerned members of the community, the choice was clear that this wasn’t the best method.

The mission of the Table Tennis Database is to provide a platform for giving ratings and reviews that are:

Accurate

Useful for people’s research

There are several reasons why reviews and ratings aren’t always accurate (whether accidentally or deliberately), and we’re taking steps to uphold this mission and maintain quality as much as possible. Some of the changes that we’ve made include:

Past Overall ratings below 5 have been changed to unrated (as if “overall” was left blank).

We had debated changing those low ratings to 5 (the lowest allowable rating), but decided against the idea of changing a user’s ratings without permission. If your rating was affected, you can always login and update the rating.

All users with affected ratings have been notified by e-mail and can update the blank “overall” ratings with a more fair score.

Users cannot give a Speed score below 4 for a rubber or blade. Only a freshly cooked pancake could produce speed scores lower than 4, otherwise it’s not physically possible to be that slow.

Users cannot give a Control score below 3.

Already many user accounts have been shut down as suspicious ratings and reviews were detected, and hundreds of ratings have been deleted. A sophisticated algorithm is in place to detect malicious ratings and they get deleted one-by-one. There is also a sophisticated keyword detector for preventing spam.

In order for the Table Tennis Database to continue to be a great resource, we will continue our commitment to protecting rating quality.

Do you have more suggestions for maintaining the quality of the ratings and reviews?

When I first started the Table Tennis Database in 2008, I wanted to provide a platform that helps people to get really accurate and useful information so they could make an informed purchase. Reviews and ratings can be very helpful for this, but they have their limits, and there are many ways to misuse them. I wanted to provide a bit of a guide so you can get the most out of them. This information is also great for giving reviews and ratings that are helpful to others. Let’s begin.

(1) Ratings are not an exact science.

Numeric ratings cannot be believed to be 100% accurate. As the founder of a ratings website, I’d like to say that these ratings will give you a perfect picture of how a particular rubber or blade will perform, as well as bring world peace and end poverty. But ratings can’t do all that. If I had a group of scientists in a lab, doing controlled experiments, maybe we could reach that level of accuracy. So use these numbers as an estimation, not as scientific measurement. People will try their best to rate accurately, but in the end it’s subjective, so leave some wiggle room for error.

(2) Fewer ratings = less accuracy.

If an item is only rated by 1 or 2 people, it’s hard to trust the accuracy of the numbers because you’re putting a lot of faith in one or two people’s abilities to rate accurately and in their opinions. The laws of statistics dictate that the effect of these issues shrinks with more ratings. If you’re comparing two rubbers that each have 30+ ratings, you can believe the average ratings are more likely to be accurate as everyone’s differences average out.

(3) Compare individual trusted reviewers for comparisons.

A specific reviewer will be more consistent in his or her own ratings. Jane Twinklemeister might have reviewed the two blades you’re comparing. If so, you should probably look at her ratings, especially if she has rated a blade that you’ve tried yourself; then you can use that as a baseline to compare to.

(4) “Overall” isn’t the most useful metric.

Don’t simply look for the Overall rating to make your decision-making super easy. It’s a hazy stat. “Overall” generally refers to how satisfied a player is with this item, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Joe Farmblat’s 10/10 overall score means a lot for your specific case. Maybe Joe is an aggressive looper, and wanted a fast, flexy blade. Meanwhile, you might be an allround kind of player favoring control over speed. His 10/10 may be your 7/10. I’ve debated whether to remove the Overall rating completely, but decided that it still has some value, but this is definitely a measure that you should take lightly.

Fundamentally, I don’t really believe in an Overall rating because every blade, whether slow, fast, stiff or flexible, is useful to a specific kind of player. There’s no “universal good blade” that everyone should use, nor a “bad one” that everyone should avoid, unless it falls apart easily or is made from the tears of puppies.

Conclusion

In the end, this site is meant to give another solid opinion to help you in your search for the perfect blade, rubber, table or shoes. It would be wise to treat it as an important part of your research, but not scientifically measured gospel. You still need to think critically as you compare options. If you do, I think you’ll make some good choices.

I’m sipping a hot cup of coffee as I write this from my hotel room at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino for the 2013 US Open.

It has been a hectic tournament so far. It’s Day 2 of 5 and I’ve been volunteering at the control desk, handing out match slips for Station A, covering twenty-six tables of action (out of almost 100). It has been calm at times, and absolutely bonkers at others. Players check in at our station ten minutes before the start time, and we hand out the match slips and a 3-star ball, while recording all of the slips that have been printed, have gone out to be played, and have come back. Then as the matches finish, we verify that the results have been recorded correctly, and hand it off to be processed.

The real challenge has been due to match conflicts–not conflicts between players, but between their schedules. With people playing multiple events (especially ITTF events), these clashes are frequent and tend to wreak havoc. When the dreaded, pink conflict slip arrives at our desk, it causes delays for the match, and when it does finally get played, we usually have to shuffle the tables to accommodate them.

Yesterday was just one of those crazy days.

A flurry of pink slips had us running around, trying to manage schedules while a line-up of thirty players vied for our attention so they could check in. I felt like a bank teller who had just announced that we were running out of cash, and everybody wanted to withdraw. Some players who were waiting on conflict matches grew impatient as we did our best to call on their opponents and start their matches.

A moment of peace

Amidst the chaos, one player had a profound impact on me. With dozens of people trying to grab my attention, pointing to their slips and calling out at me, I turned to help one man who politely waited his turn at the side of the desk. It was Xavier Therien of Quebec, Canada.

Despite his match being long delayed due to conflicts, he checked in and stood patiently as I searched, still in a frenzied state, for his match slip. He stood back, gave me my space, and held a peaceful expression that was contagious. It was a refreshing moment that I sorely needed. I’m not sure how his match went, but I hope he won.

I thank all of the players who, despite delays, have been patient and courteous to myself and the other volunteers. It’s a hard job, standing on the cement floor for almost six hours, trying to keep the tournament running smoothly and on time. If you have a moment, give a simple “thank you” to a volunteer, umpire, organizer or security guard. A small gesture goes a long way.